Digitization project with INA (France)
UNESCO’s archives and audiovisual collections are a goldmine for anyone looking for evidence on the Organization’s initiatives and work over the past 70 years. The Institut national de l'audiovisuel, INA (France), is in the process of digitizing a selection of this audio-visual heritage. In 2015, around 80 items will be digitized thanks to this partnership. The digitized items will then be added to what we call the INA-UNESCO Collection in the Multimedia Archives.
UNESCO’s cooperation with INA began in 2005 with an Agreement signed on the occasion of the 60th Anniversary of the Organization. At this time, UNESCO entrusted INA with the conservation, digitization and promotion of a collection of videos and some early films to the general public (www.ina.fr) and to audio-visual professionals (www.inamediapro.fr). To mark the 70th Anniversary of UNESCO, the Agreement has been expanded and the current goal is to digitize approximately 70 hours of audio-visual content, including sound recordings (in most part from the UNESCO Radio collection) and films (both reels and videos).
When considering the treasures in the audio-visual holdings, UNESCO staff selected items for this project based on the risk of obsolescence of the format and perceived historical and subject gaps in what is already available in the Multimedia Archives.
Soon you will be able to hear a 1971 lecture by Claude Levi-Strauss on Race and Culture or a 1970 speech by Léopold Sédar Senghor at the opening of the Unesco Regional Office for Education in Africa. You will also be able to watch films on the 1950 International Seminar on Methods and Techniques of Adult Education, held in Mondsee, Austria, and rushes from the International Commission for the Study of Communication Problems (which prepared the MacBride report, published in 1980). UNESCO thanks INA for helping to make this material available to the world.
Examples of preserved material
Creation of UNESCO
The United Nations conference for the establishment of an educational, scientific and cultural organization, was held in London, in November 1945.
44 delegations were present when UNESCO Constitution was adopted.
This footage shows Ms Ellen Wilkinson, President of the conference, as well as British Minister of Education, while she reads aloud the preamble to UNESCO's Constitution on 16 November 1945.
This video is part of the documentary "Building Peace in the Minds of Men".
Why Not Us Too?
This is a simple story of the members of a peasant family in Sicily, who cannot communicate with their emigrant son, because they are unable to read or write. Their problem is solved once they start attending evening classes at the village school. This film was made during a campaign against illiteracy and was primarily designed for showing in Sicily and South Italy.
After the end of the 2nd world war, the Italian Government undertook an extensive campaign against illiteracy in southern Italy - statistics from the 1930's indicated 40% of illiteracy on Sicily, 46% in Lucania and 48% in Calabria. With the war, the problem became more difficult to solve than ever. UNESCO decided in 1952 to include the Italian National League for the Struggle Against Illiteracy among its Associated Projects in Fundamental Education, and provided information and expertise.